Arsenal must study there is a solution to win – It entails exhibiting class and dignity
Arsenal have finally got their hands on the Premier League trophy after 22 years of hurt – but Mikel Arteta’s stars are acting like legends in their own lunchtime with their arrogant celebrations
Arsenal stars have proved their critics right after their title celebrations(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Given how long it has taken Arsenal to win something significant, the celebrations are almost understandable.
Winning the Premier League title will be the pinnacle of most players’ careers. Steven Gerrard was one of the greatest footballers of his generation, but never knew what it felt like to be an English champion. Neither has Harry Kane, Gareth Bale, Gianfranco Zola or Paul Gascoigne, to name but a few more.
So the likes of Miles Lewis-Skelly, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka will feel well within their rights to march around the Emirates in the early hours of the morning, with a swagger fuelled by adrenaline and champagne. Raising a toast to themselves for helping Arsenal finally become the bride, instead of the perpetual bridesmaid of English football.
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Lewis-Skelly wasn’t even born the last time Arsenal were crowned champions. And the achievement is made all the more impressive considering Arsenal had to hold off a Manchester City side managed by arguably the greatest boss of all time, in the shape of Pep Guardiola.
But just like there is a way to lose, there is also a way to win. It involves showing a bit of class and dignity. Rather than gloating in the direction of supposed critics who never wanted Arsenal to emerge victorious in the first place.
In a video posted by Saka, Lewis-Skelly is seen holding a champagne bottle. “They called us bottlers,” he said, “and now we’re holding the bottle.” Lewis-Skelly, who is still only 19, started just four league games this season.
Saka got in on the act too. He said: “Let me tell you something. Twenty two years. Twenty two years. There was laughing, there was joking. They’re not laughing any more. Look, it’s going to be shining. It is going to be shining bright.”
Unless you’ve won the league title, it is impossible to know how it makes you feel. Because it’s a big deal. Especially when you are as young and impressionable as some of the players mentioned above.
But sticking two fingers up to the perceived myth that Arsenal are either undeserving or unpopular winners, or both, is a bit crude and crass.
The great irony is that, if some people do dislike Arsenal, behaviour like this might just be part of the reason why. You’ve won one title, lads. You’re winners this time round – and good for you. Because any side which wins the prize generally deserves to.
But greatness isn’t measured in the singular. And if you want to be arrogant about it, go on and win the same title multiple times first.
Part of the problem is that Saka & Co are victims of their club’s past. It’s not all their fault Arsenal had to wait more than two decades to be champions again.
So now that wait is finally over, the magnitude of the achievement becomes, well, magnified. But nothing is more fickle than football. The game has a habit of taking you to the moon, then bringing you crashing back down to earth again.
Arsenal can avoid the fall by going to Budapest and beating Paris Saint Germain at the end of this month, to conquer Europe as well.
Do what Guardiola’s side did, and go on to become the dominant force in English football. Then you can start acting like genuine legends of the game, instead of legends in your own lunchtime.
